The air in the Sunset View lodging was thick with the scent of cheap perfume and desperation. Wanjiku had come here to escape the chaos of her mother’s house, the endless questions about when she’d marry. She’d met Michael at the bar downstairs. He was handsome, with an unsettling stillness, and his smile was a flash of unnaturally white teeth against his dark skin. In the dimly lit room, he leaned in close, his eyes a hypnotic, dark pool. Wanjiku’s heart hammered against her ribs. She’d been here before, the awkward fumbling of a first kiss. She closed her eyes, ready to feel the soft press of his lips. Instead, she felt a sharp, searing pain on her neck. Her eyes flew open. Michael wasn't kissing her. He was biting her, his face a mask of predatory hunger. A strangled scream tore from her throat as she shoved him back. He was strong, inhumanly so. She stumbled towards the door, blood, shockingly red, matting her blouse. She burst into the hallway, screaming bloody murder. The commotion drew the attention of the lodgings’ night guard, who called the police. When they arrived, they found a scene of pure confusion. Michael was still in the room, his shirt and chin stained with blood. He wasn't trying to flee. He was just standing there, looking almost embarrassed. "Look," he began, his voice smooth as silk, "there's been a misunderstanding. I'm a… professional. An actor. Method. Very method. We were practicing a scene for a local film." He even tried to show them a script he had in his pocket. Corporal Ochieng, a man who had seen it all from petty theft to cattle rustling, was not impressed. He pointed a trembling finger at the frantic, bleeding woman. "A scene? You call that a scene?" He looked at the bite marks on Wanjiku’s neck. "That’s not acting, that's assault!" While his partner, Constable Mwangi, tended to Wanjiku, Ochieng read Michael his rights. As he handcuffed the man, the suspect's last attempt at charm fell on deaf ears. "You really don't want to do this," he murmured, his eyes flickering a dangerous red for just a second. It was too late. Ochieng was a man of law, not superstition. He dragged the vampire into the back of the Land Cruiser. Meanwhile, the ambulance rushed Wanjiku to Kiambu Level 5 Hospital. The doctors were baffled by the bite marks, unlike any animal's they'd seen, but they staunched the bleeding and gave her a tetanus shot. The entire story was one for the morning papers: "Ruiru Man Arrested for Bizarre Assault," and the police station would have a very unusual, and very hungry, suspect to deal with. Beloud